[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 147 (Wednesday, September 5, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1206]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     RISING TO THE CYBER CHALLENGE

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                              HON. TED POE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, September 5, 2018

  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, we are in a new age of warfare. Once 
was a time when bombs, bullets, ships, planes, tanks, and artillery 
were all that great powers needed to vanquish or intimate their foes. 
Now with the rapid rise of the information age, any nation can possess 
digital weapons to undermine our military edge or disrupt our way of 
life. These new weapons, existing in cyberspace, can reach anywhere, at 
any time, and do enormous damage but go virtually unseen. They may not 
always result in the immediate deaths, but like a virus, they disable 
our defenses and cripple the basic mechanisms we need to support life--
eventually costing American lives. Their ever expanding abilities could 
one day even effect life on a scale that rivals the most destructive 
nuclear weapons man has ever produced.
  We have learned that in our new age, it does not take large 
industrialized states to develop advanced cyber weapons. We have seen 
impoverished and isolated nations like North Korea prove they possess 
cyber capabilities that challenge the defenses of our great nation. We 
have only just entered this new era of cyber-enabled competition, and 
the full ability of state-sponsored cyber weapons has yet to be 
realized. But given the remarkable advance of technology today, we must 
ensure that we have all the tools and resources necessary to compete 
and win in cyberspace as we would at sea, in the air, or on land.
  But this is not a contest limited to the military or our traditional 
security agencies to defend against. Our enemies are using their cyber 
weapons to undermine our economic strength and threaten the vary 
foundations of our democracy. This new age of cyber-enabled warfare, 
poses risks that require government and the private sector to work 
together to secure our greatest secrets and guard our most precious 
rights. Like so many challenges we have faced before, we can overcome 
this one if we demonstrate our resolve and unshackle America's 
innovative talents.
  That is why I am proud to be an original cosponsor to Mr. Yoho's 
bill, H.R. 5576, the Cyber Deterrence and Response Act of 2018. This 
bill will set the policy and direction for our federal agencies to 
effectively combat the rising cyber challenge. The authorizations in 
this bill focuses our approach towards state-sponsored cyber activities 
and allows the President to use our tools of national power to deter 
and degrade our cyber opponents. Much like our methods to combat 
terrorism, this bill creates a process to designate adversaries who use 
cyber weapons against us. We can then bring sanctions to bear on those 
individuals and entities that are exploiting the cyber realm to wage 
war or weaken the U.S. Through this bill, our enemies will find that 
their misbehavior in cyberspace has real costs and that America is 
already prepared to take on this new challenge.
  And that's just the way it is.

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